This blog is a great opportunity to share ideas about ways to
transform schooling as we know it, to help all students realise their
talents, passions and dreams. Be great to hear from anyone out there! Feel free to add a comment to Bruce's Blog and enter e-mail to receive postings

Friday, October 31, 2014

Educational Readings - for the creative teacher!

More bible study, less dreaming stories, less enjoyment, more
memorising

Prof Spurr - best kept in Aust!!

If you think things are bad in your neck of the
woods, the outlook for education is looking pretty bleak in Australia.

“He
complains about too much emphasis on enjoyment, which he does not believe is
necessarily part of learning literature. "The idea of pupils as ‘creators’ of literature in English needs to be kept firmly in check" he
reports. Students’ own works should not be valued
toohighly.”

American Schools Are Training Kids for a
World That Doesn’t
Exist
Not just American schools …

“We
may not be getting dumber in America. But we need to get smarter in ways that
match the challenges we now face. The time is now to support the role of
learning in the pursuit of discovery and to embrace the powerful agency of
culture.”

“Children
begin as explorers—they explore the environment around them,
watch others, and try out what peers as well as adults are doing. … What
they need to acquire, they are able to acquire quite proficiently through ‘discovery
learning.’”

Research Indicates No Relationship between Student Standardized Test
Scores and Quality of Teacher Performance

Are you surprised?

“Recent
research from the University of Southern California has shown there is “weak
or non-existent” relationship between state administered
value added model tests—VAM, and the content and quality of teacher
instruction. The study questions whether VAM data would be helpful in
evaluating teacher performance and influencing teacher instruction.”

“John Dewey’s vision of reform was a bottom-up approach that focused on the
needs of the child and the expertise of the teacher. He warned against a system
that relied on a lack of connection between the people in charge of planning
for education and the people in charge of actually educating. What would John
Dewey think of the Common Core?”

Check the following link for an article that
Bruce wrote this week on a similar theme.

“This
is not just a story about a late bloomer.It is
also about pegging students. Smart. Academically challenged. Either label can
be a burden to a student for different reasons.Plus,
how do we know for sure?Does the teaching culture of the
school exhibit one-size-fits-all pedagogy?Are
there various modes and opportunities to learn? Do teachers have the time and
resources to accommodate students' varied needs?Or, do
we just love to pigeon-hole students?”

Teachers using ability grouping
contributing to growing inequality in schools!!

Dr Rubie - Davies

“Although many teachers talk about groups being flexible there is
research that ability groups students are placed into in their first year
predicts the stream they will be placed in at secondary school.”

Learning and teaching should not stand on
opposite banks and just watch the river flow by; instead, they should embark
together on a journey down the water. Through an active, reciprocal exchange,
teaching can strengthen learning how to learn."

—Loris Malaguzzi, 1920–1994

Report urges revamping student testing

Bruce’s comment:
Moving away from standardised testing in the US.

“The report, by the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in
Education and the National Center for Innovation in Education at the University
of Kentucky, recommends alternatives to annual standardized tests. It says
there should befar more emphasis on ongoing
assessments of students as part of regular classroom instruction. Schools
should focus more on “formative assessments,” the
curriculum-based problems and quizzes that teachers give to students throughout
the school year for feedback on how students are doing, in addition to locally
developed alternatives to assessments, the report argues.”

Next two
articles: Some good advice to ensure successful projectbased learning.

Minimize Frustration and Maximize Deep
Learning

“As we move through the Information Age, many educators believe that
teachers should concentrate on crucial concepts rather than memorizing facts
and students should use critical-thinking skills to build their own
understanding and transfer skills and knowledge to authentic situations. But
this reality is hard to create. Often, a project seems like the answer to a
prayer, but without careful planning, it can quickly lead to curses and
frustration.”

“Project-based learning (PBL) can be messy by nature, but, then
again, isn't all learning? PBL is a student-centered practice. Because it
allows for voice and choice for students in not only what they produce but also
how they spend their time, the learning is not as structured as many educators are
comfortable with. However, PBL can still be focused if educators pair content
standards with a menu of choices for demonstrating understanding of those
standards, rather than allowing students to do projects on whatever they find
interesting.”

Bruce has been looking back at articles I
wrote for him back in 2011 when my brain was working…

Guest Post by Allan Alach - a 'must read'
and share with others

His introduction at the time:

‘My principal friend Allan sent me an e-mail that was so on the mark
that I asked him to extend it into a blog. To my mind it is a piece of writing
all teachers and schools should read -and then pass it on to as many other people
as is possible.”

A post apocalyptic vision of New Zealand
education if present policies continue!

“One respondent
used the nom-de-plume Ozy Mandias. This brought back memories of a high school
English class, where we studied a poem of that name. I recalled enough of it to
realise that it would provide an excellent analogy for my pessimistic view of
the future of education in New Zealand.”

“I don’t mean to paint self-directed education as a panacea. Life is not
always smooth, no matter what the conditions. But my research and others’ research in these settings has convinced me,

beyond any doubt, that
the natural drives and abilities of young people to learn are fully sufficient
to motivate their entire education. When they want or need help from others,
they ask for it. We don’t have to force people
to learn; all we need to do is provide them the freedom and opportunities to do
so.”